Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Mass. Governor's Plan To Increase Medicaid Funding Raises Concerns For Business
The Wall Street Journal: Massachusetts Governor To Pitch Health-Insurance Penalty For Employers
The first state in the nation to require residents to carry health insurance is grappling with escalating Medicaid rolls, but a fix floated by Massachusetts’ Republican governor is drawing pushback from employers. Gov. Charlie Baker will propose in his annual budget on Wednesday a $2,000 penalty per worker on businesses that don’t shoulder enough of the health-insurance cost. The governor is aiming to solve what he sees as a flaw in the national health law: Medicaid ends up being more appealing to low-income workers than insurance offered by employers, raising the costs for the state. (Levitz and Evans, 1/25)
The Baltimore Sun: Maryland Officials Signing Up Ex-Offenders For Medicaid
Officials are working to enroll former inmates in Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance plan for the poor. The state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, which runs prisons in Maryland and Baltimore City's jail system, is signing up about 150 people a month. And come July, officials can move even more quickly. Maryland has the federal government's permission to assume everyone in the state correctional system is eligible for Medicaid and enroll them at the time they are released. These ex-offenders have disproportionately high rates of addiction and chronic disease but typically have had no means to get treatment. (Cohn, 1/24)
See earlier KHN coverage: Signed Out Of Prison But Not Signed Up For Insurance, Inmates Fall Prey To Ills (Hancock and Schwartzapfel, 12/6/16)
KCUR (Kansas City Public Radio): Dental Care Provider Halts Services At Kansas Nursing Homes Amid Medicaid Backlog
About 350 elderly and disabled Kansans are suddenly without dental care after an Oklahoma City company informed nursing homes that it was suspending services for Kansas residents whose Medicaid applications are pending. The company, Sterling Dental, sends dentists to nursing homes in Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas for on-site care. But ongoing problems with Kansas’ Medicaid application process have left some residents waiting almost a year for coverage, and Sterling has decided it can no longer wait to be paid. (Marso, 1/24)
